NOTE: Interviews with the Haunted Mansion cast were conducted before the current SAG-AFTRA strike, on June 30th, 2023.
One of Disneyland’s most beloved attractions since its debut in 1969, the ever-popular Haunted Mansion has gone on to have locations at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland, plus the Disneyland Paris version called Phantom Manor and the quite different take on the concept, Mystic Manor, at Hong Kong Disneyland. Though the first attempt to turn the attraction into a movie in 2003 didn’t get a stellar reaction, 20 years later, Haunted Mansion is back on the big screen with a new film with no connections to that previous one. Written by Katie Dippold (Parks and Recreation, The Heat) and directed by Justin Simien (Dear White People, Bad Hair), Haunted Mansion 2023 stars a notably talented and eclectic cast, including LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Danny DeVito, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Reflecting the original attraction’s placement in Disneyland’s New Orleans Square, the new Haunted Mansion film is set in New Orleans and other surrounding areas of Louisiana, and the junket for the film was at New Orleans’ historic Elms Mansion – built in 1869, exactly 100 years before the attraction would open – a place which is said to have its own share of ghosts on the premises. Within these appropriately evocative walls, Simien, Stanfield, Dawson, Haddish and Curtis spoke to Fandom about introducing kids to horror stories, the attraction’s enduring popularity, and the film’s surprisingly emotional and cathartic side.
MY FIRST HORROR MOVIE
As a film with the Disney logo at the top, the comedic Haunted Mansion is of course meant to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages, but it certainly has its fair share of ghoulish images and potentially frightening moments, especially depending on who exactly is watching it and what their threshold is.
Every horror fan has to start somewhere and Justin Simien said he loved the idea that Haunted Mansion could be a child’s first introduction to the genre, remarking, “Horror movies are where you, as a filmmaker, can do anything and it fits because it’s supernatural or it’s a dream or it’s the other side or whatever. I saw Nightmare on Elm Street at like five years old; way too early. I did not understand that it was a horror movie. But it is why I fell so hard for the movies. I watched all of these inappropriate movies at my aunt’s house growing up and I credit that time for really lighting the passion for filmmaking. And so I was very excited to make a movie that I knew a bunch of kids were going to see because I think this stuff matters. Some of those movies that I saw as a kid, they completely shaped me as a filmmaker, and they taught me how to dream and imagine things and so it’s cool to be a part of that.”
Rosario Dawson plays Gabbie, a single mother who moves into a certain mansion with her son, Travis (Chase W. Dillon) only to quickly realize they are not alone, leading her to turn to others for help. Dawson also loved the idea that the film could serve as a gateway into the genre, saying, “Growing up obsessed with Disney movies, this is really a special film. It’s gonna do all the things it’s supposed to do of being funny and it being spooky and scary and an homage to the ride.”
Fresh off of winning her first Academy Award for her work in Everything Everywhere All at Once (and a fantastic guest performance on The Bear), Jamie Lee Curtis plays one of the attraction’s most memorable characters, Madame Leota, a spirit who appears as a disembodied head inside a crystal ball. As someone who knows a thing or two about horror, Curtis remarked that Haunted Mansion “is spooky for sure. And there are a couple jumpscares” and that she also appreciated what she referred to as the “entry level aspect” it offers, observing, “Disney movies have been entry level feelings movies since the beginning. Bambi, Old Yeller, these are movies with real themes in them that families seem to be able to handle so I think it’s within the Disney brand… Maybe a spooky Disney brand version.”
Good Grief
The central character in Haunted Mansion is LaKetih Stanfield’s Ben Matthias, who works as a New Orleans ghost tour guide in the wake of the the death of his wife. Ben’s sense of loss is a central element of the character and the film itself, which does not shy away from exploring the emotions felt by a man processing immense grief for a deceased loved one who now finds himself in a house filled with spirits of the dead.
Stanfield said he was very surprised but also excited to learn about this aspect of the story, remarking, “You know, people think that they understand generally what a Disney movie is and what they’re going to expect. And I think with this one, it was really special, because when I read the script, it didn’t read like what I would expect. It read like something that was completely different and new. There was some elements that were there that I was familiar with but the main thing was that the story seemed to be rooted in something a little bit deeper than I was used to seeing and it had an opportunity for us to explore it that way. So that’s what I loved and I talked to Justin about that.”
Describing a movie as feeling like a theme park ride can sometimes be used as an insult, and Simien remarked that going into Haunted Mansion, he felt, “Movies and theme park rides are similar, but they’re [also] very different. And for me, as a filmmaker, it was really cool to check all these boxes and to get to do this big Haunted Mansion movie and to have practical effects mixing with [digital] visual effects and set pieces and all that kind of stuff. But it all had to hang on a story that I felt was important and worth telling and that I identified with.”
Stanfield recalled Simien telling him, “’There’s an opportunity to do things a little bit different here, to push the boundaries a little bit more,” and the actor added, “I’m always excited about that. I love when companies take chances and do things that’ll [bring] in audiences who are interested in seeing something that sparks something in them and not something that’s just sort of blowing by them in the same way that we’re used to seeing. I like being involved with projects like that.”
Said Simien, of the character Ben, “At the end of the day, this shady, sarcastic, kind of misanthropic man that we meet at the beginning of the movie, moving through his grief, I know that guy… I am that guy! I’ve been that guy before. I’ve hidden my true feelings behind a joke before and especially right now, I just really connected with it with a story about moving through hard feelings, moving through grief, taking the people that you’re surrounded with and calling them family. That wasn’t just kind of cheesy stuff to me. That was actually what I was dealing with at the time. I wouldn’t have been able to make this movie if I couldn’t have put myself in it and tell a real story.”
HAUNTED MANSION FOREVER
So what exactly is it about the Haunted Mansion attraction that makes it so perennially popular and ripe for adaptation, Muppets version included? Dawson felt one key factor is the presentation, starting with the actual building and the grounds you wait in for the queue. Said Dawson, “One of the things I feel so special about the ride is that it starts before it starts. As soon as you see it, you’re looking at the mansion and it’s its own space, really, in the whole park. When you walk in, it’s like there’s no turning back and you have this group experience.”
The beginning of the attraction involves large groups ushered into the stretching room together before you walk down a long corridor and, ultimately, get into a “Doom Buggy” for the moving ride portion of the experience. Dawson noted that all of the early sequences with others alongside you mean “It’s not like you’re just in line and just hanging out with the group you’re with. You get separated and branched off and you’re walking through and it starts and then you get on the buggy. There’s layers to it and so much of it is communal.”
Tiffany Haddish, who plays a psychic, Harriet, said the attraction’s many different characters and beloved music (yes, “Grim Grinning Ghosts” can be heard in the film) all are contributing factors to its popularity, and joked, “Also, if you’re going in the summertime, it’s the coolest ride! The most comfortable, even though it’s a little spooky.”
Truly though, Haddish felt the attraction’s many wonderful, Imagineering-created effects were a key factor to connecting with guests, saying, “It’s all this magic that’s happening. Like you think about 1969 is when it started and they were able to have Madame Leota’s head in the ball and it would play and I would always wonder, was that a TV in that ball? Was that a projector in there? Was it holograms? Is this the first people to do holograms? What is that? And the ghosts floating around and all that, was that projectors? What is this!? How are they doing this? It really makes your brain turn and it sticks with you.”
For her part, Curtis said she loved going on Haunted Mansion because “It tells a story. You go on the ride – well, it’s not a ride, it’s an attraction – but you go on the ride part and by the end, there’s the big celebration at the end. And so it does feel like it’s telling you a little bit of a spooky story. ‘Welcome, foolish mortals…’ You’re entering the ghost realm and then it sort of spins you around.”
Simien said he also felt an appeal of the ride was its subversive nature. “You get the sense that something has happened that wasn’t supposed to happen. I remember riding the ride as a little kid and there’s a lot of jokes on that ride that just went over my head.”
Simien said it especially stood out that you were going on an attraction of this sort within Disneyland, because of the cheery imagery that park first evokes, observing the Haunted Mansion is “inside this magical place where there’s princesses and there’s castles, and then you’re on this ride, where there are drunk ghosts at the end of it and there’s all of these plays on words. It leans into the morbid in a really subversive kind of just in your face way that’s so unexpected, I think, from what you expect from a Disney experience on the outside. And I love that stuff. As a kid, that’s the stuff I watched. It’s the stuff I gravitated to, and as an adult I’m the same way, so I felt uniquely already tuned into it when I got this job.”
FAVORITE GHOSTS
In the Haunted Mansion movie, like in the attraction, we’re told there are 999 ghosts on the premises and while we may not see all of them, we certainly see a lot, with a ton of notable looks to make them distinct from one another.
Asked her favorite, Haddish declared, “I like the Butler! I don’t know if it’s because I had a lot of conversations with him or if it’s because I just liked how that one eye is regular and one [isn’t].” For her part, Curtis said, “I like the Bride. I thought she was creepy and great,” adding how impressed she was with the costumes and the sets in the film.
Though taken from the attraction’s history, particularly the Walt Disney World version, it’s notable how much the film incorporates the Mariner ghost, given he’s not focused on in the ride. But as it turned out, Simien said the Mariner had always been a favorite of his, chuckling, “I don’t know why. I’m attracted to naval and ocean iconography… I don’t know what it is.” Simien noted, for him, “The painting of the ancient Mariner was always the most evocative one. And so when I read in the script that Ben, the lead character, sees this painting and is struck by it, it was so weird, because that’s exactly how I felt about that particular character and why I think we treat him so special in the movie.”
Also playing an integral role in the story is the infamous Hatbox Ghost, who has an unusual history as a character quickly removed from the original attraction thanks to a crucial effect – where his head vanishes and then appears within his hatbox – not functioning properly. His standout look and notable “lost” status made him a legendary figure for Disney Parks fans, leading to Hatbox Ghost finally returning to Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion decades later, with plans underway to soon add him to the Walt Disney World version for the first time ever.
Hatbox Ghost is played by Jared Leto in the film and given a new backstory, which Simien was very happy to get to explore. Said the director, “That was awesome, because Hatbox and Gracey are both kind of co-creations with the fans, because they didn’t really have a lot to go off of. Hatbox Ghost was just this evocative looking ghost. He didn’t have a name or a place.”
Captain Jack Sparrow didn’t exist prior to the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie but soon became synonymous with the title and added to the attraction. Simien said with Hatbox Ghost, he was excited “to be able to take something that was so iconic, and sort of flesh it out in ways that I know that, if they wanted to, they can incorporate that into the ride. And maybe there’s a world in which we’re riding the ride one day and things we decided in this movie are there forever.”
Simien stressed, “I don’t know that any of that is happening, by the way, but maybe it will. I can’t actually really wrap my head around what that would even mean or feel like, to be honest, but we certainly knew that that was on the line. So everything that we created, I wanted it to have to kind of pass that bar. ‘Is this good enough to be a permanent addition to the ride?’ It was a hard test to take every day, but that’s what we did.”
Haunted Mansion opens in theaters June 28.
